Avowed early access guide: Platforms, dates, and how to preinstall

Obsidian Entertainment’s next fantasy RPG is set to release on Feb. 18, but those who can’t wait to get their hands on Avowed and explore the world of one of the most anticipated games of 2025 can play the game earlier with the Premium Edition.

The studio has a 15-year history of releasing great games such as Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity, The Outer Worlds, Grounded, and Pentiment. With such a portfolio, fans have high expectations for Avowed, a game set in the world of Eora first introduced in the Pillars of Eternity franchise.

How to get early access to Avowed

Players can pre-order the Avowed Premium Edition to play the game up to five days earlier starting on Feb. 13. It also includes two sets of bonus skins—Eora Collection Skins and Obsidian Collection Skins—and access to the Avowed Digital Artbook and Original Soundtrack.

The Eaora Collection Set is inspired by the characters and regions from Pillars of Eternity while the Obsidian Collection Set has black outfits inspired by the studio’s visual identity. Each includes five skins: one for each of the four companions and one skin for the player.

Both the Premium and Standard Edition will be released on Xbox Series X/S console, Xbox Game Pass, and PC through Steam, Microsoft Store, and Battle.net. The Premium Edition is priced at $89.99 while the Standard version costs $69.99.

If you already bought the Standard Edition or have an Xbox Game Pass membership, you can buy the Premium Upgrade add-on to get early access and the other goodies for $24.99, as only the Standard Edition is included in the Xbox Game Pass subscription.

Obsidian didn’t forget about the collectors out there, there is also the Premium Edition Steelbook for $94.99, which includes everything in the Premium Edition plus the Avowed SteelBook, the Living Lands map, and a letter from the developer. It doesn’t include the game’s physical copy however, the Steelbook only contains the Base Game Digital Code.

What platforms is Avowed early access available on?

You can play Avowed‘s early access period on Xbox and PC. The PC version of Avowed is already available for pre-order on platforms like Steam, as well as the Microsoft Store and Battle.net.

Unfortunately, Avowed‘s early access period is exclusive to these platforms and won’t be available on PlayStation (or the Nintendo Switch, for that matter). Given Xbox’s game strategy over the last year, it’s certainly possible the game could become available on other consoles at some point. But Xbox and PC will be the only ways to play early access.

How to preinstall Avowed

You can preinstall Avowed if you pre-order any of the editions. Xbox Game Pass members can already preinstall the game to save time when it is released simply by going to its page in the Xbox store and downloading it after you’ve already purchased the Premium Upgrade add-on.

You can preload games on Steam and Battle.net a few days before the game is set to release, but some players have complained about the time it takes to unpack the pre-loaded file, the download for the full game not starting automatically, or not being able to preload at all.